Anna
You should tap into the work of the European Forum for Pastoralism and Nature Conservation. They have a lot of good publications over the years, and in particular numerous studies to show areas where there are benefits (social and environmental) from 'using' animals , eg the need to moderate and mixed grazing on grassland ecosystems in order to maintain a high floral biodiversity that would be be lost by either intesive agricultue or by 'leaving it all to nature',,
Their web site is at http://www.efncp.org/
Good lucjk
Frank
Dr Frank W. Rennie
Convenor: Research School of Sustainable Rural Development
Lews Castle College
UHI Millennium Institute
Stornoway
Isle of Lewis
Western Isles
Scotland
Phone; +44-(0)1851-770451
Fax: +44-(0)1851-770001
www.lews.uhi.ac.uk/Research/StaffRec1.htm
>>> Anna Olsson <[log in to unmask]> 10/29/03 10:27pm >>>
Dear all,
Being new to this list, I hope you bear with me for sticking my neck out, but I have a question I've been waiting to be able to discuss with those more knowledgeable than I in organic agriculture. In my work, I often get involved in discussions of different ethical aspects of human-animal co-existence, and me being trained in animal science I tend to defend the place of animals in agriculture. As you can imagine, that clashes with the vegan position, that the only ethical approach to animals is to let them live. I've kept on defending that a responsible low-intensity animal husbandry is an essential part in organic agriculture, but I've started to think I may need to reformulate this position. Maybe animals are not that essential? Or maybe it would be possible to keep just a few animals and let them live until they die of old age?
Your comments would be very welcome. And I would very much appreciate the international perspective.
Best wishes
Anna Olsson
Anna Olsson
Postdoctoral research fellow
Animal Behaviour & Welfare - Bioethics
Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology
Rua Campo Alegre 823
4150-180 Porto, Portugal
Phone +351 22 607 4900
Faz +351 22 609 9157
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